Arne Elias Corneliussen is a geopolitical advisor and leading keynote speaker who supports businesses, governments, and international institutions. He is a political scientist and has studied in the US, Egypt, and Chile. He travelled worldwide from a young age and possesses a broad and deep global understanding of geopolitical and strategic events and dynamics. He is the founder and chief executive officer of NRCI, a geopolitical advisory firm he established in Oslo, Norway, in 2010.
Arne has travelled to 130 countries, having conducted a wide range of long overland expeditions alone by public bus and train across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America, where he mapped and examined the geopolitical, strategic and economic landscape. These expeditions gave him extraordinary geopolitical insights and a unique global and strategic perspective. He has also conducted 12 expeditions to 42 countries on the African continent, and has travelled alone by public bus across 28 countries in western, southern, and eastern Africa. Furthermore, he also traveled on a major expedition by train and bus, crossing more than 16,000 km from Shanghai to Istanbul across China, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Türkiye to Istanbul to map infrastructure developments, logistics clusters, and the geopolitical landscape along One Belt One Road, also called the New Silk Road, which China develops.
In the fall of 2022, he travelled by bus and train across 19 countries in eastern, southern, and western Europe and assessed geopolitical and strategic dynamics, and more broadly, he assessed the future of Europe. From December 2024 until May 2025, Arne conducted two major expeditions across Africa and the Middle East. In his expedition across the Middle East, he travelled 12,000 km alone by public bus from Amman across Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, and Türkiye to Istanbul - the longest expedition ever conducted across the Middle East.
Arne Elias Corneliussen's global on-the-ground experience assessing geopolitical, strategic, and economic dynamics, combined with managing NRCI for 15 years, makes him a uniquely experienced and knowledgeable keynote speaker about geopolitical events and global affairs. Arne maintains dialogue with informed contacts worldwide on all levels in academia, business, diplomacy, and governments. Arne delivers transformative and captivating speeches at conferences, corporate events, and leadership and board meetings worldwide. He also provides lectures at leading universities, having previously lectured at the University of Oxford and Peking University in Beijing. Arne is a highly insightful, inspiring, and captivating keynote speaker, who leaves audiences moved with new perspectives and insights.
As a proficient expert on geopolitical and strategic matters, Arne Elias Corneliussen was recently hand-picked as one of The World's Top 20 Geopolitical Speakers to Hire for 2024.
Arne Elias Corneliussen's official speaking topics are listed below:
- Geopolitical & Strategic Implications of the War in Ukraine
- Changing Dimensions in Global Geopolitics
- Assessing Strategic & Geopolitical Dynamics Shaping Asia Today & in the Future
- How to Lead in the Post-Pandemic Era to Create & Motivate Agile & Resilient Teams
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events
Feedback from In-Person Events:
"Arne Elias Corneliussen is a top-notch speaker. He captivated the audience at Business Arena Stockholm with his presentation on current geopolitics. In a uniquely qualified overview, yet easy to follow, he provided a crisp global map of conditions, relations and tensions. Excellently designed to provide decision-makers with adequate support in strategies. Highly recommended." - Karin Klingenstierna, Moderator, Stockholm
"We live in a global world where geopolitics impacts us significantly. Understanding connections between geopolitical dynamics within our global environment is crucial. Keynote speaker, Arne Elias Corneliussen, presents an extraordinary global geopolitical panorama. He shared his unique insights into what happens in Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa, China’s relations with the US, risk dynamics around Taiwan, political vibrations in the US, and how all of this impacts Europe and the Nordic region. As a producer, it was a significant moment for me to see Arne Elias Corneliussen on stage. He ranks among the top three best keynote speakers I have ever seen. Arne Elias Corneliussen is worth listening to if you want to gain a global perspective." - Jimmy B Lehtinen, Producer; Senior Content & Partnership Manager, Bonnier News Business Stockholm
"NRCI's CEO, Arne Elias Corneliussen, gave an excellent virtual presentation to AIG, providing a compelling and insightful analysis of the challenging geopolitical environment for business. In 45 minutes he expertly covered an impressively wide range of global topics. Arne has broad and deep expertise, and the ability to combine detailed regional knowledge with a genuinely global and ‘big-picture’ perspective." - Rhodri Williams, Head of International Public Policy, American International Group
"I had the pleasure of hearing Arne Elias Corneliussen speak at SuperReturn Africa 2023 in Cape Town and I could not have chosen a more well-suited, passionate, and interesting keynote speaker. His way of presenting is truly remarkable, and he has a very unique way of engaging his audience through storytelling. His speech was insightful and allowed us to learn a great deal about the geopolitics and macroeconomics of Africa from different angles in a short period of time. It was a delight to work with him. He was respectful, communicated excellently and showed great enthusiasm throughout the process and I highly recommend him as a speaker at your next event." - Munazzah Alloo, Senior Conference Producer, Informa Connect
"NRCI´s CEO Arne Elias Corneliussen delivered a fantastic 2-day virtual geopolitical risk management training course. The participants thought it was an excellent training course and very engaging. Feedback from the participants was extremely positive." - Peter Tseng, Events Executive, Risk Learning
"We had the pleasure of having Arne E. Corneliussen as our keynote speaker at the Danske Bank Annual Transaction Banking Conference 2022. Arne gave an excellent presentation on the global geopolitical landscape and answered our customer's questions in a very enthusiastic and insightful manner, providing his own personal perspective. For these reasons and consistently positive customer feedback, we would definitely consider having Arne as a keynote speaker in our future events." - Justina Baku, Senior Consultant, Danske Bank
"Arne Elias Corneliussen delivered an excellent keynote address at our recent Global Infrastructure Investment Conference in London. Arne did a great job keeping the audience engaged. His presentation was very insightful and the delivery was seamless. Leading up to the conference Arne was very responsive, friendly, and helpful in making pre-event preparations as efficient as they can be. I would strongly recommend booking Arne as a keynote speaker for any similar industry events." - Svetlana Fathers, Senior Conference Producer, Informa Connect
"NRCI’s CEO Arne Elias Corneliussen delivered a most interesting, high-quality and insightful presentation and a Q & A session to The Norwegian Society of Financial Analysts. He is a very knowledgeable, well-informed, committed and accomplished speaker with first-hand experience on the ground." - Guri Angell-Hansen, Managing Director, The Norwegian Society of Financial Analysts
"NRCI’s CEO Arne Elias Corneliussen delivered an outstanding presentation for a full house at Bogstad Manor in Oslo and it became a remarkable experience. He is extremely knowledgeable, reflective and insightful. He communicates in a structured, clear and entertaining manner. This became one of our most successful evenings ever." - Morten Ole Mørch, Chairman, Friends Association of Bogstad Manor
- 2023 - Embarked on his 11th Geopolitical Fact Finding Expedition in Africa
- 2023 - Invited to deliver a Keynote Address at SuperReturn Africa
- 2019 - Host & Anchor of Global Horizon
- 2017 - Fellow of The Linnean Society of London
- 2017 - Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
- 2010 - Keynote Speaker at the Norwegian Risk Forum
- 2009 - Founder, Chairman & CEO of NRCI
- 2008 - Management Consultant for Futurestep
- 2004 - International Key Account Manager for Lyreco Skandinavien
- 2003 - Sales Manager of Hafslund Security
- 2002 - Senior Consultant & Team Motivator for Hafslund Security
- 2001 - Officer of the Norwegian Armed Forces
- 2000 - Soldier in the Norwegian Armed Forces
- 1999 - Research Coordinator of Celare
- 1998 - Research Coordinator of the Center for Strategic & International Studies
How to hire Arne Elias Corneliussen
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Arne Elias Corneliussen for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
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